They’re losing a Golden Boot winner, a Clive Churchill Medal winner and the club’s most-capped player of all time next year, but Roosters skipper James Tedesco insists his side’s premiership window isn’t about to close.
It’ll be the end of an era when Joseph Manu, Luke Keary and Jared Waerea-Hargreaves leave at the end of the season, although Manu and Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii could return one day after rugby.
It’s a huge chunk of the salary cap walking out the door, but the money side of things pales in comparison to the culture those men have built at the club over the years, with the Roosters also set to be without injured stars Sam Walker and Brandon Smith to start the 2025 season.
While one era is about to end, Tedesco scoffed at suggestions that their premiership hopes would end once those guys left.
“No, not at all. It’s closing on their time at the Roosters and we want to make the most of that for those guys leaving,” he declared.
“The guys that are leaving at the end of the year are so big for our club, have been legends of our club now for a number of years now.
“It is sad to see a lot of those guys go. You can’t just replace guys like that but we’ve talked about that amongst ourselves and at the club that this is a great opportunity for us.
“This is a big opportunity and we won’t leave any stone unturned, just go all in at training and away from training and make sure we’re as prepared as we can.”
The Roosters were one of the premiership favourites a few weeks ago, but they have drifted significantly in the market after ACL injuries to Walker and Smith, plus a shoulder concern for Victor Radley.
They now face Penrith who have beaten them nine times in a row and should get Nathan Cleary back for their first finals meeting since the Panthers won a 29-28 thriller thanks to three tries and a field goal from their star halfback.
The Roosters were without Sonny Bill Williams (neck) and Jake Friend (concussion) that night, they lost Manu (facial fracture) ahead of the 2021 finals, and headed to Melbourne in week two last year without Manu, Suaalii and Billy Smith.
It’s as if someone in Bondi has stepped on a mirror while carrying a black cat as they walked under a ladder, but Tedesco is confident his side has the depth to overcome their bad luck ahead of their game against Penrith on Friday the 13th.
“It’s hard because this time of year you want your whole squad to be healthy. That goes a long way to winning a premiership, but we can’t use that as an excuse,” he said.
“Our depth this year is probably the strongest it’s been for years. We’ve got top players who are out at the moment but the guys that fill in for those guys are just as good.
“Even though we’ve got a couple of guys out, we aren’t too disheartened by that. We’ve got a lot of confidence in the guys coming in. It’s not ideal this time of year, you want your whole squad to be healthy, but that’s footy sometimes.”
Source Agencies
